SubZero
by SUITELIFEFAN
Summary: The continuation from 'Frosted Over'. Cody is finally back with his family. However, after a mysterious dream, strange things start to occur in Boston, occurances that are frighteningly linked together. What can Zack and Cody do?
1. Return to the Tipton

**SubZero**

by SUITELIFEFAN

(This story is a continuation from my previous fic, 'Frosted Over'. To develope a deeper understanding of the plot, kindly access its id: **4696958**)

* * *

Cody awoke to a cold hospital stench. His fingers tried to feel what was around him, and drew back when they touched cold metal. For a moment, Cody imagined he was still in that eerie room. Turning to his left, his eyes searched for the shelves of chemical bottles. All he saw was a white wall.

His head felt heavy. As he tried to focus his blurry eyes, a flashback ran through his mind. The kidnapping, the freaky scientist, and the explosion. Cody gave a grimace as he remembered what the kidnapper had said.

_I have no more use for you, my little guinea pig._

_What has he done to me?_

An urging thought pushed the images of the kidnapper out of his head. He distinctly remembered feeling the hot fireball hitting him in his back. Moving his hand rapidly over his back, he felt nothing. There wasn't a single bandage or wound on it. He also recalled how the door froze and broke apart when he exerted enough pressure on it. Was it some of kind of emergency feature that the kidnapper had affixed to the door, or something else?

Thinking was exhausting. Cody shut his eyes and tried to clear his thoughts. _Worry later, rest now._

Almost immediately, his rest was interrupted by the creaking of a door, and the scurrying of feet.

"Cody!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Cody shot to an upright sitting position on the bed. His eyes focused on his mother, Carey, looking more haggard than ever, staring at him in disbelief.

Beside her, a replica of himself stood. Zack looked nothing like the 'cool' kid he used to be. His eyes, like his mother's, were bloodshot. He was gaping at the kid who set on the bed. Upon fixing direct eye contact with his lost brother, his released jaws clenched down together into a broad grin.

"Welcome back, dude."

Cody fell into their embrace. Carey's arms were wrapped firmly around his upper body, almost suffocating him. Zack's left hand fell onto his shoulder, his other hand wrapping itself firmly into Cody's, entwining his fingers together. Cody felt a shudder run through him. It took him seconds to notice that Carey and Zack were crying their hearts out. A rush of emotion flew to his head as hot tears flowed down his cheeks.

Cody Martin was back.

It seemed hours before the family broke apart.

* * *

His checkout from the hospital was approved. Before his leave, he answered the questions of the police officers present. He confirmed the kidnapper as Lee Harvey Oswald, and described all the events occurring between the time he woke up, till the moment of the explosion. When he mentioned the freezing door, the officers glanced at each other. One of them spoke.

"Its…funny you should say that, Cody. When we found you, you were lying on a sheet of thin ice. Around the bend where the explosion had supposedly occurred, every open surface area had been frosted in ice, except for yourself. Could you explain what had happened?"

Cody was stunned. The entire corridor had frosted? He voiced out his suspicious that the ice had been caused by an emergency mechanism built into the walls to stop fires. The officers were dubious, but ensured that they would return to the crime scene to investigate the walls.

After tons of questioning, the police officers got the entire news crew barricading the doors of the hospital to step away, using themselves to form a pathway for Cody and his family to leave.

* * *

The family arrived back at the hotel late in the night. Apparantly, everyone had been waiting for them.

The hotel staff had thrown a small welcome-back party for Cody. Everyone had missed the young kid so, when they saw him walking back to the hotel with Carey and Zack, they went ecstatic. Maddie dashed out from behind the candy counter and hugged Cody as hard as she could. Estabon ran forward and set Cody on his shoulders, parading around the lobby. London threw down her cellphone and started jumping up and down, shouting "Yay Cody!" at the top of her lungs. Mr Moseby danced a small jig in middle of the lobby, which Cody would later describe to Zack as 'The freakiest thing he had ever seen in his life.' To wrap it all up, Arwin did cartwheels around the lobby, finishing by crashing into a wall and passing out.

The air was filled with jubilation. Cody couldn't help but smile as he saw all his old friends, the Tipton staff, again. Throughout the entire walk from the front door to the elevator, Zack's hand never left his.

When they entered their familiar suite, Cody and Zack immediately said goodnight to their mother, and entered their room. Cody felt overwhelmed by the sight of his room again, and sniffed, trying his best not to cry. The boys changed into their pyjamas, turned out the lights, and sat on their beds.

"Cody?" Zack's voice broke the silence.

"Hm?"

"I'm so, so, so glad you're back here with us. During the 2 weeks when you weren't here, it was a living hell. The hotel was super quiet, Mom was extremely upset, and I couldn't focus in school at all."

"Hey, I didn't know you had focused in school ever before."

The twins chuckled softly to each other.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say that through this fortnight, I realized how terrible life would be without you. I love you so much, Cody." A lone tear ran down Zack's cheek.

Cody went over to Zack's bed, and used his hand to wipe the tear of Zack's face.

"I love you too, Zack."

Both twins exchanged smiles. As Cody went back to his bed, he felt a deep connection that he had never felt before with Zack. It was as though they were small kids again. Cody fell asleep with a smile on his face.

He never expected the late-night visitor.


	2. Harvey's return

Even after a 2 week coma, Cody still felt exhausted from just a few hours of activity, from the time he had awoken in the hospital to his arrival back in the suite. Before he dozed off, numerous thoughts were bugging him, thoughts that all seemed disturbing in their own way.

_Why am I so tired?_

_Why am I not burned at all by the fire caused by the explosion?_

_How did the corridor and door freeze over?_

Thinking became exhaustive. Cody forced all questions out of his mind and eventually dozed off to the snoring that emerged from Zack's bed.

_He was fast asleep, in the midst of a dream about his girlfriend Barbara and himself at the park, feeding pigeons. Suddenly, the dream broke and moved aside. It was comparable to a jet hitting an air pocket. Time seemed to freeze before his eyes, as the pigeons that had just taken flight stopped in midair. A piece of bread he had just released from his hand stopped, never hitting the ground. _

_Then, all the images of the park, the pigeons, Barbara, faded out slowly like the end of a movie. Soon, all he could see was black._

_Except from a bright glow at his left. Cody turned to his side. _

_Harvey was standing there with a broad, joker-like grin etched on his face._

"_Nice to see you again, Cody."_

_Cody felt a growing fear rise within him, which soon turned to aggressiveness. Glaring at Harvey, he felt a deep hatred for the man that had got him into so much trouble. The anger became so overwhelming that he was at a loss for words. Harvey seemed to notice his furious expression._

"_Don't mind me, Cody. I'm just here to do my job."_

_To Cody's shock, Harvey vaporized. His skin started peeling away in a brown vapour, followed by his flesh, muscles and bones. It was a horrifying moment. The vapours collected together in a huge mass. Then…_

…_the mass plunged collectively at Cody._

_Cody's first instinct was to run. He tried to turn away, but was stopped by a strong pulling sensation at his feet. Looking down, he saw a terrifying sight. A set of bodiless arms was held tightly around his ankles. The gas came nearer._

_They went straight into Cody's nose and mouth._

_Cody tried to resist, holding his breath, but the vapours seemed to be fighting as well, pushing themselves down his throat. When the last of the gas entered, Cody started losing consciousness. He never fell as he blacked out._

_

* * *

_

Zack awoke to the sound of tossing and turning from Cody's bed. Zack rubbed his eyes, trying to focus. As he sat up, he was surprised to find Cody not lying on his bed, but sitting upright at the bed's edge, his hand resting on his lap.

"Cody?"

Zack inched forward slowly. As he neared his brother, he noticed that Cody was completely still. He didn't seem to have woken from any nightmare.

"What's wrong, Cody?"

Just a meter away from Cody, Zack noticed the eerie expression on Cody's face. He wasn't panting heavily, he didn't look frightened in any sort of way. The look on his face was stone cold. His eyes were half open, his mouth curved downwards.

"Cody…"

Zack touched his brother hand.

He didn't have any time to react as Cody pushed him. His arms felt like hard marble as they hit him, knocking all the breath out of him. The almost superhuman force was enough to send Zack flying all the way back to the end of his bed facing the wall. Zack hit his head hard on the shelve directly above it.

Squinting his eyes, Zack saw an absurd sight. Cody walked to the nearest empty wall in their room. He raised his arm. A jet, no, a spray of ice emerged from his palm and hit the wall. They spread out, leaving an almost perfect square of ice. Cody walked forward and punched it. It shattered.

Cody never looked back as he jumped out from the hole in the wall, out into the streets of Boston.

Zack blacked out almost immediately.

* * *

Zack awoke again, this time to the touch of fingers around his shoulders.

"Zack?"

Zack opened his eyes, and saw Cody standing above him, a worried expression on his face. He screamed loudly, moving rapidly away from Cody, until he hit his head on the shelve again.

"Ow…"

"Dude, be careful! I just wanted to wake you up from breakfast. I never knew you were that sound of a sleeper, I've been shaking you for 5 minutes!"

Zack rubbed the back of his head, and stared into his brother's face. It carried an almost amused expression now, no hint of the emotionless appearance on his face from Zack's supposed dream was there.

"I just had this weird dream…"

Cody shook his head.

"Anyway, mom left us a note. She said she'd left early in the morning to help with configuring the new mikes in the lounge, and she'll be back for lunch. I'll make some eggs."

"That'll be great, Cody. Thanks…"

Zack trailed off as he got dressed. Later, he walked out of his room and sat firmly on the couch. His hand touched the television remote and switched it on.

"Good morning, and welcome to, "Get out of bed, Boston!". I'm Mary Ann, and this is my co-news presenter, Jerry. I will hand the time to Jerry now to comment on the latest headlines."

There was the sound of the fridge opening.

"Thank you, Mary. Just reported early in the morning today, passer-bys were stunned at Kimberly Road, where an entire Boston street, including all its building and people, had been frozen."

There was a sound of breaking glass, as Cody rushed forward. "Did he just say frozen?"

Zack didn't response, staring absent-mindedly at the screen. Cody went straight to the door, opened it, and retrieved the newspaper. He almost dropped the paper in shock.

The headlines on the front page screamed out at him.

'Boston Street Frosted Over'.

Cody's heart thumped wildly. _This is just like what happened in that building I was trapped in!_

He looked down again to see ice crystals gathering in the spot where he had touched the paper.


	3. Holdup

The light reflected from the perfectly clean ice crystals hurt his eyes. He held the paper down at his waist. The occurrences that had occurred in a single night were frightening to him. Second ago, right in front of his eyes, he had frozen a newspaper just by touching it.

_Was this what that madman meant when he said that he had done something to my body? _

It was a frightening thought. The reporting of an entire street on Boston frozen scared him even more.

Suddenly, the paper set ablaze.

Cody was unaware of it, until his nose picked up the foul smell of smoke, one which he had always hated. He turned around, trying to detect where the stench was coming from, until…

"Cody! What the hell are you doing?!"

Zack saw his brother standing at the doorway, and leapt up from the comfort of the pull-out couch. Cody stared blankly at him.

"Drop the paper!"

"Wha…?"

Cody lifted the paper and noticed it was on fire. It took 2 full seconds for him to register the image, process it, and toss the paper to the ground. Zack ran forward and stamped violently on it, putting out the flame. Fumes of smoke filled the air around them.

"Cody, what the hell were you thinking…"

Zack's voice trailed off. He lifted a finger and pointed at Cody's hand.

A small flame was still burning on his palm.

Cody rapidly shook his hand. Nothing happened. The flames seemed to be inexhaustible. Cody struggled to calm himself. He remembered the odd feeling he had experienced within his core when he supposedly froze the door in the building that imprisoned him. He tried to imitate that sensation from within him again. A familiar burst of liquid adrenaline ran through the veins in his arm.

Almost immediately, the flame vanished, leaving behind no burn marks.

"Oh, god…"

Zack gasped his mouth wide open.

Shaking violently, Cody sat down on the couch, pulling Zack with him. For the first time since the kidnapping, Cody related every single occurrence of that fateful night to his most trusted confident.

* * *

The man inserted a new cartridge into his handheld pistol. He absent-mindedly moved a sweaty hand over his face, checking that the handkerchief was in place. Then, he moved his hand into his jacket, checking to see if the envelopes were in place.

Leaping out from the mini-mart, he dashed across the street.

"Good morning, sir…"

Norman the Doorman was cut off by the pistol emerging from within the stranger's jacket. The man glared threateningly at the aged Tipton employee. Moving forward, he raised his gun-arm, and shot 3 times into the ceiling. A light-bulb shattered.

"This is a hold-up!"

Instantaneously, wild screams and shrieks emerged from the mouths of the people in the lobby. A few of them instinctively threw themselves to the ground, their arms over their heads. Maddie's hand, clenched with a candy box within it, froze in midair. Mr Moseby dropped his phone onto the floor. Estabon froze, realized that he was in direct shooting area from the man, and wheeled the luggage cart away to the front desk.

There was a terrible moment of silence.

"I want to speak to the manager, NOW!"

Trembling, Mr Moseby left the front desk and walked to the robber. Madeline prayed silently. Estabon could not break his gaze away from the man whom he had respected so much.

"Er…good morning sir."

"Cut the crap!"

The robber shouted loudly. Small droplets of spit flew onto Mr Moseby's face.

"Tell me…does London Tipton live at the highest floor of this hotel?"

"Yes, but…"

In one fluid motion, the robber pushed Mr Moseby away and strode to the elevator. After scaring everyone in the lift out, he walked in himself, and pushed the highest floor. For good measure, he fired one more bullet into the lobby as the lift doors closed. The bullet hit the giant vase in the center of the lobby, shattering into smithereens.

Mr Moseby awoke from his trance.

"Estabon! Call the police!"

Estabon's hand dove into his pocket to withdraw his Nokia. His hands were trembling as he pushed the buttons.

Mr Moseby quickly picked up his phone on the floor. He gave a grunt of despair as he realized he could not turn it on.

"Everyone! I need a cell phone, fast!"

Maddie crawled over the candy counter, and threw her phone to the hotel manager. Pushing the buttons he had recall subconsciously after 4 years of guardianship, he brought the phone to his ear. He prayed anxiously as the dial tone rang, hoping that for once, London Tipton would not be browsing for clothes in her huge closet.

* * *

London skipped happily out of her closet, satisfied with the dress she had just picked for that night's ball. Laying it gently on her couch, she hummed her favourite tune: her signature, "London Tipton's really great".

She picked up the phone as it rang.

"Hello?"

"London, you need to get out from your suite immediately!"

"Moseby?"

"There's a crazed robber heading for your suite this very minute! We think he's after your jewels…don't take anything, and just leave the suite!"

"But the bad man might steal my clothes!"

Mr Moseby's exasperated emotion was booming from the phone.

"Forget about your clothes! Just GET OUT!"

London held the phone away from her ear as he screamed. She jammed the phone back onto the receiver, and ran to the closed door. The moment she undid the lock, the door seemed to spring open by itself, hitting her on the forehead. She stumbled to the ground.

The first thing that emerged from the door was a pistol, followed by the body of a stranger clad in a black jacket.

"Miss Tipton…"

* * *

Cody ceased his conversation with Zack as he heard a small sound coming from the ceiling water pipes in their suite. Getting a chair, he stood on it and pressed his ear to the pipe.

What he heard sent a chill down his spine.


	4. Tipton Ignition

"Zack!"

Cody looked anxiously at his brother, beckoning to him with his finger. Zack drew up another chair and pressed his head to the pipe. Confused, he said,

"Cody…I can't hear anything."

"Listen harder!"

Cody forehead was knitted tight in concentration. Zack shook his head and hopped off the chair, while trying to make sense of the conversation he had just held with his brother.

_My brother can make fire and ice._

The emergence of the two opposites had surprised Cody as much as it had Zack. For the first time, Cody had explained exactly what happened on the last day of two torturous weeks when he had been kidnapped. Zack could barely phantom how such a maniac could possibly have the heart to do experiments on a kid. He had been equally fearful for Cody when he mentioned that Harvey had supposedly "done something to his body". The sight of the fire in Cody's palm was still etched firmly in his mind.

A terrifying sound broke Zack's train of thoughts. Cody screamed, pushed his hands onto his ears and jerked his head away violently from the pipe. In that sudden movement, he lost his balance and fell off the chair, landing hard on the floor. Zack ran forward and knelt down, his expression a mix of worry and confusion.

"Cody? What's wrong?"

His question was instantaneously greeted by an ear-piercing sound of tearing metal outside the suite, followed by screams and the scurrying of feet. The twins stood up and ran towards the door.

The hallway was on fire.

* * *

In the lobby, the police had already arrived. Mr Moseby had cleared the lobby of people excluding the Tipton staff. Carey had left the lounge, anxious for the safety of her boys, and frustrated that the police had insisted he stay in the lobby for her own safety. Mr Moseby was rapidly explaining the situation to the policemen, until a booming sound shook the building. Everyone looked at the ceiling.

"What was that?" questioned a terrified Maddie.

Without any warning, the robber emerged from the stairway. Mr Moseby pointed at him. The police drew their guns and fired rapidly, but the robber ducked the bullets. Estabon saw the robber slip his hand into his shirt pocket and withdraw a bulging, yellow envelope. Estabon shouted,

"Look out, he has a bomb!"

Nobody expected what happened next.

The robber tossed the envelope on the front desk. Pistol in his hand, he fired at the package.

Everybody barely had seconds to react as the package exploded.

Arwin, who was nearest to the front desk, quickly ducked and turned around. He felt the searing heat scorching the side of his face.

Maddie screamed when the bomb exploded, and ducked behind the candy counter as a small piece of shrapnel blasted towards her, hitting the candy display.

A policeman drew his gun again and shot at the robber. This time, the fatal bullet struck the robber in the side of his head. The robber fell, blood pouring profusely from his head.

* * *

"Cody, we need to run!"

Zack and Cody followed the shrieking crowd as they dashed down the stairway. The twins saw fire on almost every floor. Suddenly, Cody stopped. Zack turned around and shouted at him.

"Quick!"

Cody looked at Zack, his expression resolute, but his eyes betrayed his fear.

"Zack…go ahead."

Zack's eyes widened.

"Are you crazy! Where are you going?"

"London's in trouble. I heard her shouting in the water pipe. I've got to go back and help her."

"I'm sure she's fine! And I'm not leaving the hotel without you!"

"I love you, Zack."

Cody pulled Zack towards him and caught him in a tight embrace. Kissing him lightly on the forehead, Cody looked straight into Zack's eyes.

"I'll be fine…go!"

Cody dashed up the steps.

Zack watched his brother fight his way through the crowd in the stairway. He heard no sounds, a chilling calm ran through his body. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to make a decision. A wave of determination flooded him, blocking out all the fear he had felt previously. He mumbled,

"I'm not losing you again."

Zack pushed people aside as he struggled his way up the steps.

* * *

Shorter Chapter this time, guys. School is starting soon, so updates will be a little slow. :P

- SUITELIFEFAN


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